In a place far from palaces and the sounds of cities, there was a silent forest. The tall trees swayed in a gentle breeze, and the creeping fog clung to the ground.
Amid that stillness, Rain stood.
He hadn't returned to the palace. He didn't want the noise of doctors, nor Valerian's questions, not even Claire's words. He wanted silence... he wanted to feel.
He stood in the middle of a circle of ancient trees, his body nearly bare, scorched from fire, and the torn bandages falling off one by one. But the skin beneath was no longer entirely human... it resembled the calm surface of a living star.
He closed his eyes.
He breathed.
Then he felt it.
The pathways.
It was as if his very breath moved through channels he had never known existed. A pulsating sensation flowed from his chest to the tips of his fingers, from his spine to his heart... energy moving in clear lines within his body, as if the flames had redrawn his structure from within.
